San Diego ranked one of the top cities where luxury homes sell the fastest

San Diego ranked 4th amongst the top US cities where luxury homes sell the fastest.The Wall Street Journal recently published a story covering the priciest 2% of homes in 100 metro areas listed for sale on Feb. 5, then checked back roughly 60 days later to see what percentage was still on the market. Homes moved most briskly in San Jose, where 59% of for-sale homes were still listed—followed by Oakland and Detroit.

The slowest-moving markets were Lake County-Kenosha County, Wis.—where 90% of listings lingered—followed by Madison, Wis., and Knoxville, Tenn.

Nationally, 78% of pricey listings were still available two months later, compared with a slightly lower 79% in 2014. (Listings may have been pulled for reasons other than a sale, though this likely affected the minority of cases, according to Trulia.)

Broadly speaking, demand is up across the country, particularly in places with strong job and wage growth like the Bay Area, says Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia’s housing economist.

In San Diego, it’s not uncommon for sellers of homes priced at $2 million to $3 million to get offers within 30 days—unheard of a year or two ago, says Andrew E. Nelson, president and CEO of Willis Allen Real Estate.

Detroit, meanwhile, has some of the least expensive real estate in the country, making it easy to buy the city’s priciest homes, Mr. McLaughlin says.

Even in the slower markets, sales are not exactly sluggish. In Miami, for example, 77% of high-end homes lingered for 60 days, compared with 63% last year, Trulia’s data show. The slowdown is especially noticeable in coastal cities with sizable groups of foreign buyers, says Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Nationally, the shift within slower-moving markets is to a more sustainable speed—akin to cruising at 50 miles an hour after driving on the Autobahn, Mr. Miller says. “It’s a slowdown from an anomaly.”